THE NEW YORKER 11 .,. "11hen Mullig-an, tlze foren an, ca1ne flying over to n e on big- blue u'ing-s and Þ:t,ittering like a bird. I chased hi1n with a butterfly net but he began heavin.g' bricks at me." got the doctor, station lnaster, and the rye-carrier. The conductor caIne back and said he hoped the lady felt better. "Thank you," she said, weakly. "I do, a little." It didn't cost the two cOLspirators a nickel: rye, doctor, and everything was paid for hy the railroad. Refz,carsal G ROPING through pitchy lobbies and corridors, we finally found our way into the auditorium of Radio City Music Hall about nine-thirty last Thursday morning, and there we sat, surrounded by thirty-six slnoking Rock- ettes (née Roxyettes), watching the one and only dress rehearsal of the new stage show which would -go on shortly after noon. As we caIne in, the Fe- lnale Singing Enselnble was in the spot- light at one side of the stage, warhling sOlnething that sounded like Chalni- nade-but not enough like her, evi- . dently, to please either Erno Rapee, who had the baton, or Russell Markert, the producer, whon1 we gradually dis- cerned sitting in almost the exact mid- dle of the house, alnid underlings and a lnicrophone. Mr. Rapee kept stop- ping the orchestra to bawl out the Fe- males, and Mr. Markert kept shouting into his microphone that things had better get along, or else . .. :Finally the singers did well enough to be dis- missed, and in a minute the stage was full of twenty-eight ladies of the ballet, bending this way and that to lnore Chalninade. Mr. Rapee didn't bawl them out, but he kept bullying the or- chestra a good deal, and Florence Rogge, the ballet chief, ran up and down the aisles calling out directions to her girls, and Mr. Markert shouted through the microphone at Mr. Rapee and at Miss Rogge and at the light man and especially at Bill Somehody, the young stage manager, who got shouted . at more than a11 the rest put together. \Ve never did find out Bill's last nalne, but weren't worriçd, for apparently it is never used. Nobody's was. No lnatter how much he got bawled out, Bi11 called Mr. Markert "Russell," and Russell cal1ed hin1 "Bin" and they both called Miss Rogge "Florence" and they all called Mr. Rapee "Erno." Erno was the only one of theln who sounded really lnad at titnes; the others just sounded tired, and awfully, awful- ly patient. At the close of the ballet, the Rockettes around us burst into pret- ty applause. This surprised us, seeming a little unprofessional, we thought, but we discovered it was just the opposite. If it had been the Rockettes perforln- ing, we learned, and the Corps de Bal- let watching, the ballet would have applauded the Rockettes. Radio City tradition, already. When the Male Singing Enselnble was revealed, grouped underneath a